German colonies in West Africa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

German colonies in West Africa existed in Cameroon and Togo from 1884 to 1919. German South West Africa was alsounderstoodlessoften.

West African colonies of Baltic and German countries before 1871

German West Africa around 1912: Togo and Cameroon (dark green), German South West Africa (light green)

The Duchy of Courland owned the fortress Fort Jacob , named after Duke Jakob Kettler , on James Island on the Gambia River from 1651 to 1661 . Towards the end of the 17th century there was another German-speaking colonial base in West Africa, the fortress Groß Friedrichsburg . The Brandenburg-Prussian colonies in Africa also included the island of Arguin and the Whydah trading post . The ambitions of the Brandenburg-African Company ended after a few decades under pressure from the established colonial powers.

West African "protected areas"

Faktorei the company Woermann in Cameroon. Since the 1830s, German entrepreneurs traded with Africa and set up factories there. Some of these economic ventures in West Africa eventually became starting points for the establishment of German colonies.
German flag hoists * on the west coast of Africa 1884/85
* selection; Nokki not recognized by the state; Kapitaï and Koba as well as Mahin ceded in 1885

In the 19th century, German trading houses - including C. Woermann , Jantzen & Thormählen , Wölber & Brohm and GL Gaiser - became active on the West African coast. German missionaries, such as the North German Mission , were also represented in West Africa. After the conclusion of the British-French agreement of 1882 on the delimitation of their spheres of interest in West Africa ("Sierra Leone Convention"), Hamburg overseas traders urged that their trade claims be secured by the protection of the German Empire . On this occasion, the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck asked the senates of the northern German Hanseatic cities to comment on the extent to which German shipping and trade in West Africa were affected. In March and June 1883 Woermann submitted plans to the Chancellor to found a German-West African trading colony , which Bismarck initially accepted with reluctance.

Establishments

Coast of Togo on the Bay of Benin (1885)
Cameroon River on the Bay of Biafra (1888)

In March 1884 the German diplomat and Africa researcher Gustav Nachtigal was appointed Reich Commissioner for the West African coast. Nachtigal embarked on the gunboat Möwe and in July 1884 raised flags at several locations on the West African coast:

The German territorial claims in South West Africa were also confirmed by Nachtigal. The German Empire dropped claims to the West African areas of Kapitaï and Koba as well as the Mahinland in 1885 in favor of France and Great Britain. To compensate for this, territorial increases in Cameroon were negotiated. Victoria , located on the Cameroon coast, came under German administration on March 28, 1887, after British rights had been exchanged for German territorial claims in Nigeria and South Africa. However, the attempt by Eduard Schulze to secure a colony near Nokki on the Congo in Germany was denied state support from the start.

In September 1884, the German Reich government set up the West African cruiser squadron , which gave military emphasis to the territorial claims that had been made. Under Admiral Eduard von Knorr , the German Reich violently put down unrest within the Duala clans in Cameroon.

At first it was not a question of closed colonial areas, but rather fragmentary stretches of coastline with an open hinterland. After the Berlin Congo Conference of 1884/85, Germany acted as host and the borders of the German “protected areas” in West Africa slowly emerged. Expeditions into the respective hinterland led to the establishment of the first stations beyond the coast such as Baliburg and Yaounde in Cameroon or Bismarckburg and Misahöhe in Togo. The expansion into the inland was only provisionally completed shortly after 1900, when the residency of the German Tschadseeländer was established.

The first governor of Cameroon, Julius von Soden , was also appointed Oberkommissar of Togo, which at the same time had its own Reichskommissar as head.

"Race" to Niger

Colonization of West Africa by Germany ( green ), France ( blue ) and Great Britain ( red ), 1882–1914

In addition to the Congo , the Niger was an important artery for the colonization of the interior in the race for Africa . Germany, France and Great Britain contested control of the Niger river basin in the late 19th century. As early as 1885, an attempt by the German entrepreneur Gottlieb Leonhard Gaiser to found a colony in the so-called Mahinland west of the Niger Delta had failed . German traders had hoped for duty-free access to the upper Niger from this. The traveler Paul Staudinger tried to build relationships with Sokoto , Gando and other rulers on the Niger- Benue expedition of 1885/86 , but no occupations followed . In 1885 the plan of the businessman Friedrich Colin to reach the headwaters of the Niger via a colony near Kapitaï and Koba had also failed. In 1894/95, the Togo hinterland expedition - initiated and financed by the Togo Committee and headed by Hans Gruner - attempted to acquire areas in central Niger. Togo was to be expanded many times its original size. Gruner and his companion Ernst von Carnap-Quernheimb traveled to Niger and signed supposed “protection treaties” with heads of the kingdoms of Gando and Gurma . At the same time, French and British representatives also traveled to the areas and concluded “contracts” at the same time. Other German advances in the direction of Niger, e.g. B. by Erich Kling , Gaston Thierry , Ludwig Wolf and Julius von Zech auf Neuhofen were thus doomed to failure. Regardless of the understanding and interests of the locals, the Niger river basin was divided between France and Great Britain. As compensation in the treaty with France of 1897, Germany was only able to negotiate minor additions and border changes around Togo. The Niger-Benue-Chad expedition was to extend a last attempt, the German sphere of influence on the Niger shortly after 1900's.

German West Africa

A seldom used term for the two German "protected areas" was German West Africa . Usually Cameroon and Togo were meant (initially also informally called Kamerunggebiet and Togoland ).

There was never an administrative unit called German West Africa. The higher court in Buea (Cameroon) was the "Imperial Higher Court of the Protected Areas of Cameroon and Togo" and was responsible for the affairs of whites in both colonies (see also: Court organization of the former German colonies ).

Sub-areas

Between 1884 and 1919 the following areas in West Africa were under German rule (excluding German South West Africa):

Colonial area German Colonial times Area (approx) Inhabitants (approx.) Today's states
Old Cameroon
(excluding northeast)		 1884-1919 483,000 km² 2,588,000 CameroonCameroon Cameroon Nigeria
NigeriaNigeria 
Ambas Bay / Victoria 1887-1919 ? 12,000 CameroonCameroon Cameroon
Bakassi Peninsula 1913-1919 1,000 km² ? CameroonCameroon Cameroon
Duckbill 1894-1911 12,000 km² ? CameroonCameroon Cameroon Chad
ChadChad 
Kapitaï and Koba 1884-1885 2,310 km² 35,000 Guinea-aGuinea Guinea
Mahinland 1885 ? 10,000 NigeriaNigeria Nigeria
New Cameroon
( German Congo )		 1911-1919 295,000 km² 2,000,000 GabonGabon Gabon Republic of the Congo Chad Central African Republic
Congo RepublicRepublic of the Congo 
ChadChad 
Central African RepublicCentral African Republic 
Salaga area (eastern part) 1899-1919 ? ? GhanaGhana Ghana
Togo 1884-1919 87,200 km² 1,000,000 GhanaGhana Ghana Togo
TogoTogo 
total 880,510 km² 5,645,000

Commerce and Navy

Flag of the German-West African trading company

With the participation of Bismarck, the syndicate for West Africa was founded in October 1884 , which was to take over the internal administration of the colonies there. But the companies involved refused to take responsibility for this task and instead demanded the establishment of a German governorate . Bismarck's idea of indirect rule in the German “protected areas” had therefore also failed in West Africa. The syndicate dissolved in 1886. The colonies of German West Africa were therefore from the outset as crown protection areas compared to German East Africa and Witu, which were initially administered as a social protection area .

The designation German West Africa can be found in the names of several economic organizations of those years, such as the German West African trading company founded in 1896 and the German West African Bank founded in 1904 .

In the marine language of the German Empire, there was also the West African station , which comprised the sea area off the coast of West Africa together with offshore islands. Warships of the Imperial Navy were assigned to the area in foreign service, often stopping at the port locations of the protected areas.

Morocco crisis and New Cameroon

The borders of German West Africa at the time of greatest expansion 1911-14 (map from approx. 1930)

In its striving for international recognition, the German Empire tried to consolidate its colonial influence in West Africa. For example, there were German post offices abroad in Morocco, which expressed the increasing influence in the region. The claim to power resulted in several confrontations with the colonial power France, which erupted in the first and second Moroccan crises. Germany demanded a say in the development of Morocco or compensation in return for not having a say.

The second Morocco crisis was finally settled in 1911 by the Morocco-Congo Treaty , which included an exchange of territory on the border between German-Cameroon and French-Equatorial Africa . The German "protected area" in the east and south was assigned an extensive area belt ( New Cameroon ) (also known as the German Congo). France was given a smaller head start in northeast Cameroon (called “duck beak” ).

Any exchange of Togo for a larger area in the Congo was dropped after protests from the ranks of German colonial politicians and traders.

The far-reaching goal of German colonial annexationism , the creation of a German Central Africa , thus became visible for the first time, but only realized peripherally.

First World War and the end of the German colony

British occupation forces in Togo (October 1914)

The small “protected area” of Togo, which only had one police force, was occupied by the British and French on August 27, 1914, just one month after the start of the First World War . In German South West Africa , the last fighting protection troops surrendered to the South African Union troops in July 1915 . Cameroon , which also had a protection force , was held by German units until February 1916, when they finally withdrew to the neutral area of ​​the Spanish Rio Muni . Finally, the cut off defenders of the mountain fortress Mora in the Mandara Mountains surrendered their weapons.

The end of the German colonies was finally sealed in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles . According to Article 119, Germany renounced "[...] in favor of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers of all its rights and claims with regard to its overseas possessions". Cameroon and Togo were administered separately by France and Great Britain on behalf of the League of Nations . Cameroon was divided into a larger French and a smaller British mandate area. Smaller areas in western Togo came to the British Gold Coast (Ghana).

See also

literature

  • Johannes Baumgarten: German Africa and its neighbors in the black continent. 2nd edition, Berlin: Ferd. Dümmler's publishing bookstore, 1890.
  • Rochus Schmidt : German West Africa, in: Germany's colonies . Volume 2, Berlin: Verlag des Verein der Buchfreunde Schall & Grund, 1898, pp. 1–292. (Reprint by Weltbild Verlag , Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-8289-0301-0 )
  • Hugo Zöller : The German possessions on the West African coast . 4 vols. Spemann, Berlin et al. 1885.

Web links

Wikisource: Colonialism # Cameroon and Togo  - Sources and full texts
Wikisource: Germany's Colonial Efforts: Germans on the West Coast of Africa  - Sources and full texts

Footnotes

  1. ↑ West African Colonies, Germans , entry in the German Colonial Lexicon, Volume III, p. 704
  2. ^ Percy Ernst Schramm: Germany and overseas , Georg Westermann Verlag, Braunschweig 1950
  3. ↑ Wolfgang J. Mommsen : The struggle for the national state - The founding and internal expansion of the German empire under Otto von Bismarck 1850 to 1890. History of Germany, Volume 7, Part 1, Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3549058179 , p. 514f.
  4. ^ Chronology of German Colonial History , Federal Agency for Civic Education
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Lauber (Ed.): German Architecture in Togo 1884-1914 / L'Architecture allemande au Togo 1884-1914 . Karl Krämer Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, p. 22, ISBN 3-7828-4017-8
  6. ^ Wilfried Westphal: History of the German colonies . Gondrom: Bindlach, 1991, p. 56, ISBN 3-8112-0905-1
  7. ↑ Bernd G. Längin: The German Colonies - Schauplätze und Schicksale 1884-1918 . Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn: Mittler, 2005, p. 70, ISBN 3-8132-0854-0
  8. ^ W. Schüßler: Kolonialgeschichte , in: Annual reports for German history . Edited by Albert Brackmann u. Fritz Hartung. Leipzig: Koehler. Born in 1937–1939. Vol. XXI, pp. 700f .; made available by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences.
  9. ^ Siegfried Passarge: Victoria , in: Heinrich Schnee (Ed.): Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon , Volume III, Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920, p. 25.
  10. ↑ Dr. H. Klee (Ed.): Latest Mittheilungen. IVth year. No. 20. Berlin February 17, 1885.
  11. ^ Meyers Konversationslexikon , correspondence sheet for the 1st volume, 4th edition, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna, 1885-1892, p. 1023.
  12. ↑ Brix Förster: The distribution of Africa among the European powers, in: Die Gartenlaube , 1891, pp. 698-703. ( Article at Wikisource )
  13. ^ Entry Soden, Julius in Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon (1920), Volume III, p. 369
  14. ^ Horst founder: History of the German colonies . 5th edition, Paderborn: Schöningh / UTB, 2004, p. 85, ISBN 3-506-99415-8 ( book preview on Googlebooks )
  15. ^ Entry Falkenthal, Ernst in Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon (1920), Volume I, p. 598
  16. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wehler: Bismarck and Imperialism. 4th edition, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-423-04187-0 , p. 329.
  17. ↑ Conrad Weidmann: German men in Africa - Lexicon of the most outstanding German Africa researchers, missionaries, etc. Bernhard Nöhring, Lübeck 1894, p. 170 f. ( Online version ( Memento of the original from February 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.forgottenbooks.com
  18. ^ Norbert B. Wagner: Archive of German Colonial Law (PDF; 2.0 MB) Brühl / Wesseling 2008, p. 153.
  19. ↑ Both treaties lacked legal validity even by the standards of the time: In Gurma there were rival claims to rule among the regional leaders. The contract with Gando was even later manipulated by removing a restrictive text passage. (Hans Gruner, Peter Sebald (Hrsg.): Vormarsch zum Niger. The memoirs of the head of the Togo hinterland expedition 1894/95. Edition Ost, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3929161079 , p. 410f.)
  20. ↑ German Colonial Lexicon: Keyword Togo (see 18th story)
  21. ↑ F. Karsch: Insects from Baliburg (German West Africa) , in: Entomologische Nachrichten, edited by dr. F. Karsch, 1892 no. 11, p. 161ff, special edition by the Royal Museum for Natural History in Berlin, no date; via archive.org
  22. ^ The German Colonial Legislation (Berlin 1893, digitized copy on archive.org), page 187; Section 2.2 of the "Service Instructions, Regarding the Exercise of Jurisdiction in the Protected Areas of Cameroon and Togo"
  23. ↑ For the information in the table see also statistical information on the German colonies Deutsches Historisches Museum
  24. ↑ Without "duck bill"
  25. ^ Horst founder: History of the German colonies . 5th edition, Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2004, p. 84, ISBN 3-8252-1332-3
  26. ^ Th. Niemeyer, K. Strupp (Ed.): Yearbook of Völkerrechts. Vol. II, Duncker & Humblot, Munich / Leipzig 1914, p. 247ff. ( online )
  27. ↑ Rough estimate
  28. ↑ Including eastern Salaga area
  29. ↑ Wolfgang J. Mommsen: The struggle for the national state - The founding and internal expansion of the German empire under Otto von Bismarck 1850 to 1890. History of Germany, Volume 7, Part 1, Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3549058179 , p. 523.
  30. ↑ Entry German-West African Trading Society DKG Hamburg in the German Colonial Lexicon
  31. ^ Entry Deutsch-Westafrikansche Bank in the German Colonial Lexicon
  32. ^ Entry of fleet stations in the German Colonial Lexicon
  33. ^ Horst founder: History of the German colonies . 5th edition, Paderborn: Schöningh / UTB, 2004, p. 101, ISBN 3-506-99415-8 ( book preview on Googlebooks )
  34. ↑ Peace Treaty of Versailles: German rights and interests outside Germany (Articles 118 to 158)